


A Stellar Wanderer

by Digigal_transbian



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27847358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Digigal_transbian/pseuds/Digigal_transbian
Summary: Idle thoughts on a shuttle flight through the stars.
Kudos: 1





	A Stellar Wanderer

The vast cosmos.

Ever since the first time the night skies were observed, ever since the galaxy was first noticed, the living have always dreamed of exploring the vast expanse of the endless abyss.

Some believed the stars themselves had magic powers, able to determine their lives the moment they were born. Others looked to the stars as guides, navigating the oceans blue by turning their gaze to the horizon. 

Constellations seen among the stars painted unseen stories in eternity. They were followed for harvests, used as a reliable measurement of when their crops were ripe. Each image was given a story, hunters and kings and great men and women alike given a form of immortality among the stars.

And then they reached the stars for the first time, and discovered they were not alone. None of them were. The galactic community grew more populated year by year, empires rising and falling like the tides. From beautiful wonders to terrible horrors and everything in between, the stars hid treasures for those bold enough to explore them.

War broke out many times, as it does. They all ended just as quickly, interstellar destruction effectively being proved as an ineffective method of problem solving. Relations may not have been as strong as they could have been, but death wasn't following in the wakes of mass destruction. Unnecessary death prevented by its own lack of value.

The cosmos sits now in a time of relative peace. Ancient plagues sit dormant, contained to planets they have always ruled since times of yore. Empires flourish among the stars, resources supplying everyone with everything they could ever dream of.

All in all, life lives. 

Peacefully adrift in the galaxy, a shuttle flies.

A single human sits peacefully inside it, flying it wherever the stars take them. Blue-gray sweats cover their body, hanging comfortably loosely as they lean back in their chair, content to watch the stars pass with a soft smile.

The gentle hum of the warp core fills the shuttle. Stars streak beyond the glass, lines of light following wherever the ship goes.

The universe is only here for a short time, but life will live for shorter. Even the seemingly immortal black holes will evaporate into the void. Still, that time is far away. On the scale of the human life, the cosmos may as well be eternal. Massive eldritch structures, more ancient than the mind can truly understand, that will survive longer than any mind could dare hope to dream. 

The darkness is warm and full of light for now, and that is all that matters.

They've kept up with physicists studying dark matter, despite not understanding quite what they're talking about. The images and models paint a picture of a future so far away they might as well be never. Entropic decay is just noise to them.

They grab a bowl of Sharjan instant noodles, tearing the top open and pouring the boiling water in. Mindlessly, they stir the noodles until they're soft, eyes watching the small vortex in a sort of trance.

A savory aroma fills the ship as steam rises out of the bowl.

Perhaps the universe is just another particle, floating and orbiting in a cloud as a part of another incomprehensibly large entity. Perhaps, that being is alive, and knows that they are too. Maybe they look down on the cosmos and study it from far, far above.

The human sighs peacefully, "Veritas, play my newest travel music playlist, please."

But that doesn't matter much. On such a scale, humanity may never know what the universe could hold.

"Of course." The computer agrees to the human.

The sound of retro synths fills the ship, a layer of echoing reverb distorting it somewhat, with a steady drum beat driving the song forwards underneath.

And onwards towards infinity they fly.


End file.
